U Jagušky part VII: Roasted Pork Knee

The first time we tried to order Krakonošovo koleno we were told it would take 90 minutes to cook, would we like to wait? (well actually our non-English speaking waitress finally had to write down 90 min. for us to understand what she was trying to tell us) Unfortunately we were starving and I had to settle for something else that day. Pork knee seems to be on the menu at every traditional Czech restaurant. It's very popular and I can see why.

First of all the name, it means Giant knee, but it is also a reference to the largest mountains in the Czech republic named the Krkonoše mountains, and also the deity who's domain was the protection of these mountains against poachers and a champion for the poor. This is a dish designed and perfected by the poor, it uses a scrap piece of meat and turns it into decadence.

It's basically a huge ball of skin, fat and ewwey gooey meat. You Filipino's know what I'm talking about. This is basically a Czech Crispy Pata. This one is roasted instead of deep fried however. You really can't beat the Filipino's version, I mean come on, whats better then deep fried skin and fat?
So this is a really really big hunk of pork. On the menu they advertise it as 1kg, but as a tiny little side note they charge 13kc per 100g so this dish costs 130kc(6.50) if it weights 1 Kg. That will be important later on.

When the waitress (our favorite waitress at this point) comes to the table with our beers, we immediately tell her we want the pork knee, and using my incredible miming skills (she still doesn't speak English and our Czech has not yet improved) I tell her we want a smaller knee so that we can order appetizers first while we wait the 90 minutes for the knee to be ready. I also mimed that Jessie would be ordering other food, and I wanted a knee just for one person. I wanted to get the order in as early as possible to cut down on the waiting. This was a great idea since it really took over and hour and a half for the knee to be ready.
Then I found out why. Apparently my miming skills aren't as good as I had hoped, as they brought the largest knee they could find. 1.95kg. If my math is correct that's almost 5.2 heart attacks on a single plate. Eat your heart out Fettuccine Alfredo (0.95 heart attacks on a plate).

Much like the Filipino crispy pata which is served with flavored vinegar to help cut through the fattiness, this is served with mustard and horseradish. This dish really is almost impossible to eat without the acid and spicy bite from these condiments. The fat in the meat just gets too greasy in your mouth and coats everything. However a dollop of mustard and horseradish bring out different elements in the meat and fat. Supremely satisfying... But I say with a heavy heart (literally) I did not finish the whole knee, in fact I don't think I even got through half of it! After consuming about 2.5 heart attacks of pork, I had to call it quits, I had it wrapped in tin foil and brought it home to butcher and put into pasta later on.

The bill for this behemoth? 255 kc, just under 13 dollars. Worth it? Definitely. More meat then I expected? Definitely. Necessitate a few more climbs up to Prague castle on the hill? Definitely.

I hope you like my new food porn shots, this is my first set of clumsy attempts to use the ¡SUPERMACRO! settings on my camera.


-NOM!

U Jagušky part VI Stump Robber pork neck

Pařez loupežníka Buráska

This means Stump Robber Buráska. I think the stump is a reference to the wooden cutting board this dish comes on. I've never had a pork neck before, I was expecting it to be a little more fatty, and a lot more bony. There were no bones, and little exposed fat. However this was one of the most tender and flavorful pieces of pork I have ever had in my life. I hate to use the word because it's one of the most overused in food writing history, but it was succulent. In the translation of the Czech menu they call it natural pork neck, which may mean organic, or at least an heirloom breed of pig. I want this cut in the US, but I have never been able to find it.

The meat was very simply roasted with salt and pepper. The cut and meat is so good you really don't need to do anything else. The juices running into the circular crack around the cutting board were the best part, using some dark rustic Czech bread as a mop I greedily cleaned my plate. Of course the ever-present mustard and horseradish as accompaniment were a delicious counterpoint to the heavy meat and make great condiments. At 130 Kc this is a great filling and amazing meal.($6.50)(300g uncooked weight).

U Jagušky, will you ever stop pleasing me?

-NOM!

U Jagušky part V: Moravian Sparrows

moravští vrabci = Moravian Sparrows = delicious.

chlupaté knedlíky = hairy dumplings = Yumtastic

So these aren't actually sparrows, the name comes from the small chunks of sparrow sized pork, which is stewed with onion, cumin, and garlic. On the side is Zeli = cabbage, a slightly sweeter Czech version of sauerkraut. This is probably my favorite sauerkraut I've had in the world so far. The hairy dumplings are named this because they are made with grated potatoes. More on this in my Dumplings post.

This is one of my all time favorite Czech meals. Simple, easy, and filling. The sauce is the braising liquid and it all perfectly balances each other, the nice dense potato dumplings, the zing of the fresh zeli, long stewed pork shoulder that falls apart when the fork gets near it. Lets be honest, it would be more healthy with a little green, but I could eat this for lunch every day and never get tired of it. This one I may have to make for myself when I get home.

Here is a recipe I cobbled together

600 g pork shoulder(some recipes are 50/50 belly and shoulder)
15 g oil
100 g onion
salt
cumin
4 cloves sliced garlic
6 g flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup(optional but a little vinegar would go along way here)

Pork cut into uniform chunks. Finely chop onions and fry in oil until golden. Add the meat, dusting it lightly flour and brown the meat. Pour some water, add salt, add tomato paste (ketchup), sliced garlic, cumin, and bake or simmer until the meat softens (1-2 hour). Occasionally stir and pour a little water. It'll be important to keep some water in the dish to keep the meat braising instead of baking, but if you add too much water you'll have to reduce the cooking liquid later to get a nice thick sauce. (Finish sauce at the last minute with a little pad of butter for sheen and creaminess)

Serve with potato dumplings and cabbage.

-NOM!

U Jagušky part IV "Very typical czech dish"

Every menu I saw this dish on would then follow it by "This is a very typical Czech dish" Svíčková na smetaně, houskové knedlíky. This is some tender beef marinated and served in a creamy gravy topped with lingonberries compote and some whipped cream. On the side are the houskové knedlíky basically boiled bread dumplings. This is the traditional accompaniment of this dish. The gravy and lingonberries reminded me of Swedish meatballs, but instead of a little mass of mystery meat, it's on a beautifully tender chunk of sirloin. Mopping the slightly sweet gravy with the bread dumplings is a real treat.

They say everyone's mom and grandma make this dish best, unfortunately I never found anyone's grandma to make it for me. However U Jagušky makes a pretty great version which I ate with relish.

I'll talk more about knedlíky more in another post.

-NOM!

U Jagušky part I

As soon as we got off the metro to our little place out in praha(prague to the rest of us) 9 we were confronted by this little bustling restaurant, U Jagušky. Literally it translates to At the Jagušky, we never found anyone who could properly translate what Jagušky means. We just think it has something to do with witches.

The inside was covered in murals of fairytale stories presumably from the traditional czech cannon. Unfortunitely I don't know any czech fairytales, Altough this one is teaching mermaids to drink I believe.
Also creepy witches lanterns
And really good beer.
They only sell Pilsner Urquell at this bar. And it's really really good. This type of beer is called Tank beer, and you can only really get it in the Czech republic. It's an unfiltered unpasturized type of beer which is stored in large tanks under the restaurants. I heard that large tanker trucks back up to a restaurant and pump the beer into a specifically designed tank. This makes the bottom fermented pilsner style lager, really come alive. Pilsner Urquell I've had in the states was tinny, overly floral, and not a very pleasant drink at all.
While it would be possible to write a whole blog entirely devoted to the beers we have encountered on our trip around the world, I think I'll leave that to the more beer inclined to write about.

For the next couple of posts I am going to delve deeply into the menu of this restaurant, because well basically we ate almost everything in it.


-Nom!